Delhi is the political and administrative center of India. US and indian officials have met and discussed various details. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Union Ministers S. jaishankar and rajnath singh discussed issues of regional and global importance and security cooperation. For the fifth edition of the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Union minister of State for External Affairs S. jaishankar met in New delhi on Friday. The foreign minister said the meeting was significant and thanked the US for its continued support to india throughout India's G20 chairmanship.
"We had a very successful G20 summit in september and on behalf of prime minister Modi I want to thank the US government and President Biden because I think without the strong support that the US has given us, I don't think we would have had the consensus and results that we did," jaishankar said. “We have not only the strongest bilateral partnership ever, but a regional and indeed global one, which is further demonstrated by India's leadership of the G20 this year. We have a lot to do, including with our defense colleagues. Indo-Pacific, our region for the future, the future is really now, and we are building it together with India.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also arrived in New delhi on thursday and was received by Defense minister Rajnath Singh. They discussed measures to enhance India-US defense cooperation. “India is a country with which we have a deep partnership. Deepening defense cooperation in the partnership will be among the many topics discussed," US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant patel said ahead of the meeting.
Donald Lu, the top US ambassador to South and Central Asia, said the meeting would seek to promote further cooperation between the two countries to promote defense equipment production. "Our aim is to encourage greater cooperation to produce world-class defense equipment to meet India's defense needs and contribute to greater global security," Lu told AFP news agency. Blinken and Zeisankar will also discuss developments in West Asia in the wake of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war. india said it stood in solidarity with Israel, condemned Hamas and stood by its policy on palestine and called for a two-state solution.
click and follow Indiaherald WhatsApp channel